The breakup of the missing persons squad
by Iam2UwhatUare2me
Summary: When Samantha disappears after having a fight with Martin, he's left clueless and heartbroken. Ch 6
1. The possible breakup

I'm a big fan of Without a trace, but I'm an even bigger fan of Samantha and Martin, so it's painful for me to watch Wat most of the times, although that's not entirely true, I do still enjoy the serie, I could just enjoy it more, if they would just put

I'm a big fan of Without a trace, but I'm an even bigger fan of Samantha and Martin, so it's painful for me to watch Wat most of the times, although that's not entirely true, I do still enjoy the serie, I could just enjoy it more, if they would just put them back together ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Wat, nor any of the characters, except the ones that I made up of course.

This story starts right after 3x14: Neither rain or sleet.

Shortly said, it's the episode where Danny finds out about Sam and Martin, where Martin shows a first sign of wanting to stop with the secrecy, and where Rosie Diaz, was the missing person, who turned up dead, after her brother found that she did not help him enough.

I hope you'll enjoy this:

The Missing Persons Squad of the FBI break-up

_Chapter 1: The possible break-up_

**Friday: 10 pm**

"I don't understand why it would be such a big deal if we let the team know?" Martin told Samantha, as he and his girlfriend had, like predicted, resumed the conversation that they had left open at the office.

"If it's not a big deal, then why do you so desperately want them to know?" She questioned him back, not knowing how to answer that question to Martin's satisfaction, so avoiding answering it.

"Because I want to know where I stand, Sam. We've been dating for what … three months? Or wait, dating? Are we even dating? Or is this just sleeping together?"

She sighed deeply and he noticed that. "No." She replied after a while, just at the moment, where the lack of response made Martin believe that that was really what this meant for her.

"No?" He repeated. "Really?" He questioned, as he went to sit down besides her on the couch again, but then immediately stood up again. "Then what are we?"

"I like you, I like you a lot." She said. "I just, … why does the team have to know about us?"

"Because I want to be able to walk into the office together, to be able to not having to get weird looks every time, I express worry, or even something else about you against someone else of the team. I want to take you out to dinner, a date, without having the check five times if there really is no chance of stumbling into someone of the office. I want to be able to tell my family, that their ever being single son is not single anymore, so my mom can stop setting me up, with other women." He said, and she looked down, not replying to that. "But then I guess, that doesn't mean anything to you."

"What if we tell the team? What if we tell them and that goes well for a while and then we don't work out? They all will never let that go, it'll hang down on us forever." She replied to him, while she stood up too, not being able to handle his staring gaze down on her, and she looked into his eyes.

"So it's the team? What about us? I'm sorry to say this, Sam, but if we break up, I'm not sure if I'll be able to forget that so soon, I don't know if it'll really effect our work, but I won't be able to pretend like it never happened."

"You're right." She replied, seeing her best excuse she could find, easily thrown off by Martin, but what was she supposed to say to him? That she had an already ruined reputation, that would, by putting this in the spot light, get only uglier? Or that she was so used to having secrecy, that she was afraid that she couldn't have a normal relationship anymore? Or that by starting something with him, she had guessed Martin himself, to being less the wonderful man that he had turned out to be, and him to want this to be a secret too? At the end, he knew she had had an affair with Jack. "It's just …"

"Is it the thrill? The secrecy thrill? You learned that with Jack, and now you just can't stop?" He questioned, while her head shot up by hearing Jack's name, and he suddenly felt like he understood. "Oh, I guess I just said the forbidden word, right? Was I supposed to never ever mention your ex?"

"This has nothing to do with Jack." Sam told him, but he didn't really listen to that, his detective mind had started working, coming up with a theory, the explanation for all of this for him, been thrown out of the air, and it just fit.

"This has everything to do with Jack. You don't want to tell the team, because that includes Jack right? You don't want to tell Jack, because you don't want him to think that you moved on."

"You think you've got it all figured out do you?" She replied, her eyes fuming, unhappy by the accusations he made, but even more unhappy, by the fact that she had given him not enough proof to make him see that he was not true.

"I think you screwed me to get over Jack. And then when I made it clear to you that I didn't want this to be a one night thing, you just went along, hoping that I could make you move on." Martin yelled, and Sam stumbled back, shocked by his outburst, angry by his outburst, disappointed by his outburst, but most of all, confused by his outburst, because she couldn't deny that part of that was true, only she really fell for him on the way.

"Martin." She whispered, but he didn't hear her, he was just getting started.

"I'm not good enough am I? Although I love you, although I treat you better, although I can give you a future, although we've got a shot at something really good, you'd rather have a destructive and illegal relationship with Jack, don't you?"

"That's not true." She whispered, but yet again, he didn't seem to hear her, and for the first time in their relationship, she realised she had gotten deeper to him then she had first intended, ever intended, actually. She realised finally, how much their secrecy, had really been hurting Martin.

"I can't pretend anymore that you're mine, when you're obviously not." Martin said, speaking this sentence much calmer, portraying more of his hurt inside of it.

"I…" She did not know what to say, nor what to do, only that sexual contact would not solve it this time, like it had always done. She touched her cheek when it started tickling, and only then she noticed she was crying.

"I can't pretend anymore that you want to be with me, when you obviously still love Jack." Martin finished, and her head shot up by that, but she didn't have to strength to yell NO the hardest that she could. He would not believe it, and she didn't even believe it herself.

Was it possible that all the relationships she had had in the past two years, did not work out, just because she still loved Jack? Was she kidding herself by thinking that she got over him?

"I'm gonna go." She said, picking up her bag, avoiding any contact with Martin as she passed him in a wide bow, and almost run out of his apartment, trying to keep the tears from dropping down as she did, who was she fooling anyway, she couldn't be crying about Martin, right?


	2. A hole in a memory

I want to thank the people who had time and friendly enough to write me a review

_I want to thank the people who had time and friendly enough to write me a review!! I do very much enjoy getting reviews, so I ask you, gently (for now) PLEASE REVIEW!!_

_Chapter two: A hole in a memory_

**Sunday, 6.00 am:**

Martin shot up, waking from an awful nightmare, forgetting immediately what it was about, but the fear still haunting him, as he looked around. In a few seconds, he fell from one shock to another. He wasn't in his apartment, but that had happened plenty of times in the last few months, he believed he slept more in Sam's apartment then in his own.

That said, he noticed immediately that he was indeed in Sam's apartment, but it wasn't by the looks of it, the complete room was torn apart, everything that had once stood, was now laying down on the ground, everything torn, even the sheets where he had been sleeping in. As he looked at his side, searching for a particular person, he found no one, and then suddenly started to panic.

As he stepped out of the bed, and starting walking down the apartment, hoping every second, that one nightmare had just enrolled in another one, he noticed that the rest of the apartment looked even worse then the bedroom, not one single thing was still whole; no plate, no painting, no couch, no closet. When he reached her frontdoor, opening it and looking down the hall, but noticing nothing there, and then closing it again, he suddenly noticed how unsteady he stood on his feet and for a second everything around him become fuzzy. He leaned against the door for a few seconds before it was gone and when he pushed himself off the door and looked back, he noticed a stain that wasn't there before, it had the form off his hand.

Looking down on his hand, he saw that they were deep red, covered in blood. He searched for the wound on his body, but didn't found one. He stumbled back tripping over something and fell to the ground. He nearly started hyperventilating when he tried desperately to remember something, but just couldn't.

This has got to be a nightmare, this is a nightmare, please let this be a nightmare, he thought, as he stumbled back towards the bedroom, searching for his cell phone, that he always lay next to the bed, he didn't find it there, but it did lay on the ground, not far from the bed. As he picked it up, he dialled Sam's number as fast as he could and almost started crying, when he heard her usual tone, sounding through the apartment. He followed the sound to the kitchen and found it there on the counter. The possible single thing that wasn't lying on the ground. As he sat down, he dialled a new number and realised he only then realised, that he had just ruined an entire crime-scene. Crime-scene, the word alone caused a chill through his entire body.

"Danny, it's Martin, you need to come to Sam's apartment immediately." He responded as soon as he heard Danny's voice, which was sleepy, although there was sun coming through the windows. Looking back towards his hands after he had hung up, he suddenly felt the urge to throw up and just nearly made it to the bathroom in time.

"Oh my god." Vivian said, as she entered to torn-apart-apartment. Danny had called her, telling her that there was some big emergency at Sam's apartment, that Martin had just called him and had never sounded so frightening, and had asked her to come there. Danny had been right to think that there was something seriously wrong. "Martin?" She called out, while she looked back to Danny, who had the same expression on his face as her.

Later she would probably recall this as the very moment, that she knew for real, that something really, really bad had happened. She would always remember the look on Martin's face when he walked towards them, and she would never forget the feeling she got, right at that moment. "Martin, where's Sam?" She asked, noticing immediately that he was pretty much out of it, his shirt was smeared with blood, his hands too, his face was pale, his eyes stood a bit dead.

"Where's Samantha?" Danny repeated, as he started to look around himself.

"I touched the front door, the bedroom door, and the bathroom door, the toilet, my cell phone, the counter, I think that's it." Martin rumbled, as Vivian slowly made her way over to him, and Danny looked back at him.

"Martin, do you know where Sam is?" Vivian questioned and as Martin stared at her, with what appeared to be tears in his eyes, he slowly shook his head.

"I don't know, I don't remember anything, Vivian, I think this is her blood, I … think this is her blood." He repeated, as Vivian looked over to Danny, who noticed the panic in her eyes, and couldn't do anything to take that away.

"Martin, … Martin, look at me." Vivian said, slowly shaking him, his eyes stood a bit unfocused and she didn't know if that was just because of the shock. "Please, Martin, tell me what happened, what is the last thing you remember?"

"I … I don't know, I returned home yesterday evening, after we solved the case, and … I think Sam came by, but I don't know, I can't be sure, I think she did."

"After we solved the case? You mean of Rosie Diaz?" Vivian questioned, and Martin nodded, she glanced over to Danny before replying. "That wasn't yesterday, it was the day before yesterday, you're sure that is the last thing you remember?" She questioned, and he nodded again.

"Viv, we need to find Sam." Martin suddenly said, his desperate and worried eyes, staring at her, finally regaining focus. Now it was up to her to nod, yes, they really needed to find Samantha.


	3. The other team

Chapter three: The other team

_Chapter three: The other team_

**Sunday, 9.15 am:**

"We're not getting the case, Danny." Jack repeated to Danny.

"But Jack we know her."

"Exactly, and that is why, we will not be put on her case." Jack replied, he understood his bosses decision, he did not like it either, but he hadn't suspected them to get it either. Two hours, that was how long it had taken for Samantha Spade to come forth as a real missing person. Their bosses had needed another hour, to step him, taking the case out of their hands, and putting a new team together, who'd handle it. But they did treat is as an important case, not because they knew her or liked her, just by the reason that she was an FBI-agent. The other team, they didn't know her, they would search through everything about her life, make judgements, like they always did, sometimes wrong, sometimes right, but most importantly they would have to find her, because if they couldn't, then nobody could.

"She's one of us, and Martin is involved, even if they gave us the case, we've got two men short, we'd put our heart in front of our head, we'd overlook things that other people would find only obvious, just because we think we know her and we will maybe not want to see the truth."

"What are you implying?" Danny questioned.

"I don't know." Jack replied, it was that he was frustrated, that he was saying these things, it was because Samantha had been able to keep her relationship with Martin a secret for him, for months, that he was saying this. It was the fact that Danny seemed to know, that Vivian seemed to know, and that he probably had noticed it too, but had not wanted to see it, that made him say that.

"Where's Martin?" Danny questioned, just when a group of people entered the bullpen, Olczyk and a woman at front, about four people behind them.

"Jack… agent Taylor." Olczyk acknowledged both of them. "I want you to meet Emily Dayson, she will be leading the investigation towards Samantha Spade, and her team, Eric Aventura, Daisy Moore, Willem Götsburg and Reno Smith." Olczyk went on pointing towards each person separately. "She will need all of you, including, agents Johnson and especially Fitzgerald, to be here, and has agreed to give you a mild co-operation in this case. She understands that importance to you, but you will not make any calls on your own." Olczyk said and both Danny and Jack's gazes went over the group of people. "All right, that's all for now I think." Olczyk said, and then turned right on his heels, as Emily held Jack's gaze for a few seconds she then did the same, the group following her like puppets.

"Olczyk." Jack called out, and Alexander Oclzyk turned, signalling Emily that she did not have to wait for him before walking back up to Jack.

"Jack, like I told you a million times, you can be lucky that she agreed on you helping her, there is no more that I can do for you, she leads an incredible team…"

"Not as good as mine." Jack quickly interrupted.

"You're missing one of your finest agents, and agent Fitzgerald, is restricted from working on this case, he will only need to be here when they want to ask him questions, you can give him the time off for the rest. So you're two agents short, which makes me doubt that. You can be lucky to have such a wonderful team for the case."

"You call me lucky?" Jack asked and Olczyk swallowed back his words, realising that that was a dumb thing to say. "Really?"

"It is your closeness, your involvement with this agent, that restricts me from putting an all too good word, for your idea of giving your team this case, you do realise that, I hope?" Olzcyk pointed out towards Jack, realising immediately that that was another dumb thing to say.

"I realise that my agent is involved with another agent of my team, yes. I realise that she is my employee, and after four years, it would sound mildly alarming if I would not have a certain closeness towards her." Jack replied, picking his words out carefully.

"Of course. So I think this conversation is finished." Olczyk said, turning back around as he glanced over at Danny for barely a second.

"Olczyk." Jack called out again, and Alexander turned back around again, frustrated by two things, one that Jack still had the guts to not call him by his right title, and that this was the second time, he could have been out of his sight, all ready. "I hope you realise that all I wanted to say to you was 'thank you'. I understand you probably pulled some strings to let my team help in this case, and I appreciate it." Jack said, and Olczyk sighed deeply. Of course.

"Like I told Vivian and Danny a few times, I don't know. God, Jack, really? You really think that I would be keeping something from you? I just want to have her safe, Jack, that's all I want and I will do everything to have that, okay?" Martin said. He had gotten back to his apartment, cleaned himself up, and had not been able to wake up from the awful nightmare he must be in, it all was just so unreal.

"All right, so how long have you two …been … you know?"

"You mean how long we've been sleeping together? A couple of months give or take, I think about three months." Martin replied, watching Jack's reaction closely when he said that. He wanted to appear casual about this, but the relationship itself also seemed unreal to him. Not ever had he imagined her choosing him.

"You should've told me." Jack commented, when someone suddenly knocked on the door. They had been seated in Martin's apartment, the living room, each sitting down on a couch separated by a small table between them.

"Why, because it is always necessary to tell the ex?" Martin questioned, as he stood up then he opened the door, greeted by some not so friendly looking people, a man and a woman. As he threw them a questioning look, they flashed their id's in front of his face and behind him Jack stood up.

"Emily … Eric, what are you doing here?" He questioned, while he went to stand besides Martin, suddenly realising that Martin had not met them yet. "Oh, right, Martin, this is Emily Dayson and Eric Aventura, they are investigating Sam's disappearance." Jack explained, and Martin nodded. "So what does the case bring you here?" Jack asked, and Emily sighed, a bit disappointed that Jack would not figure it out this quickly, but unfortunately Martin did.

"They think I did something to Sam." Martin said and Jack stood dumbfounded.

"Martin Fitzgerald, we're arresting you for being involved in Special Agent Samantha Spade's disappearance, you have the right to remain silent, if you choose to give up your right to remain silent, anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney and the right to have that attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to represent you." Emily said, while Eric took out his handcuffs, and although Jack signed him to put them away, Martin turned himself around to give him a better opportunity, which he gladly used, at putting them on. "Jack, I hate to bring you this news, but … the blood that was found at the crime-scene, matches with agent Spade's bloodtype." She said, and although Jack had expected this, the news still hit him hard and he swallowed deeply, looking over the Martin, who looked exactly like a man who just uncovered that ,only a few hours prior, his hands had been covered in his girlfriends blood. Meaning; like shit.

"Jack, just find her." Martin nearly begged, while he was lead away and Jack did not know if he should follow or not. As he realised that he maybe should better lock up Martin's apartment first, and in order to do that he'd have to search the key, they had already guided him around the corner.


	4. Taking sides

Chapter four: Taking sides

_Chapter four: Taking sides_

**Sunday, 3.00 pm:**

"I've got a case against him, Jack, whether you want it or not. He hasn't got an alibi, he has opportunity, his relationship with Samantha can provide him a motive. And let's not forget the fact that he was covered in blood. Can you tell me, that you're absolutely certain, that there is no way that mr. Fitzgerald would ever do something to her?" Emily asked Jack, while they both stood next to each other, in front of the window, looking in on the room where Martin who was seated at a table, his head in his hands. "We, at least, need to know everything that he knows, but unfortunately, he's not talking." Emily commented further, which didn't surprise Jack at all.

"Of course he's not talking. Has he got a lawyer, yet?"

"One's coming over."

"You do realise that if you want to start a case against the son of FBI-director Victor Fitzgerald, you've got to stand firm. Which you're not. Honestly, Emily, do you think he has done something to Sam?" He questioned, he could not believe that Emily could even consider that Martin did something like that, or was it really true, that you never want to see the truth? Martin couldn't have anything to do with this, right?

"As a matter of fact I do." Emily replied, confident of her case, she realised that by making these accusations she would be stepping out of her league, but she was brought here, to find out what had happened to that woman, and she would do everything possible to do that. She had always hated those rich and famous people who thought that they could get away with everything just by their family and fame. If Martin had done something, she would make him regret it, and pay for it, that was something she was sure off. And nor his team nor his family, nor her bosses, would be able to stop her, she might be strict, but she was also stubborn. She followed the rules, mostly, but she was willing to break them, if they could get her something, she was born that way, it was not like she could do something against it.

She had heard all about Jack, Olczyk had even referred to her as the female Jack, and she really believed that they didn't differ that much of tactics. What she also knew was that Jack had loved, or even still loved Samantha Spade, and that making a choice finding her would soon turn out to be more important then defending the people working on his team. She knew that if there was one person on Jack's team that she could use, to go against Martin in the future, then it was Jack himself.

"I don't believe Martin could do something like that, I honestly can't." Jack said to her, as he glanced back in the room, and walked off. He and the rest of their team, had been gently forbidden to talk to Martin, and maybe that was a good thing.

"For now you do." She whispered, as she followed him walking off with her eyes and then glanced back at Martin in the room, breathing in deeply, before she opened the door and stepped inside the room.

"Hello Martin, I'm Emily …"

"We've met already." He interrupted her, as his gaze followed her, while she took a seat, and he straightened himself up. He looked bad, bloodshot eyes, pale……it could be mistaken for guilty. "Like I told you, and everyone of your team before, I've got nothing to tell you, till I get to see my father."

"You're allowed to see your lawyer, but that's it for now. I don't think there is any reason why you should be able to talk to your father, considering he's not the one who has to get you out of here." Emily shot at him.

"We'll see about that." Martin replied, and after that, a long silent pause came. "Look …… please,… just,… I know that I'm your sole suspect right now, or I guess that, but can you … "

"We're looking into this, through every possibility, if it wasn't you who did something to her, then we'll most definitely find that out." Emily told him, quiet unfriendly.

"But you don't think you will."

"I think that you surely do make an excellent suspect and I believe that we have got almost enough of evidence against you to charge you for murder."

"She's not dead." Martin yelled.

"And why's that? Do you know where she is? Where are you keeping her, Martin?"

"She just can't be dead." Martin said, calmer. "She just can't."

"They're just doing their job, we most probably would have done the same thing." Vivian stated, trying to calm an over edged Danny, but not really succeeding in doing that.

"They've arrested Martin. Yeah, I am almost positive that we would have done the exact same thing." Danny replied sarcastically as he went with one hand through his hair, pushing him off the desk he was leaning to ,with the other.

"Just look at it from their perspective, he was covered in her blood, he was out of it, and he says he doesn't remember anything that happened, resulting in him not having an alibi. He had the day off yesterday, and she called off sick, he had all the time of the world to do something wrong and then cover it all up." Vivian said, although you couldn't exactly call it covering up, right.

"Don't talk like that." Danny exclaimed taking a few steps to the right, and then doing the exact same thing to the left.

"Like what?"

"Like Martin's a suspect. I don't care about looking it from their perspective, we are talking about Martin here, not some unknown suspect in some case, we're talking about Sam and Martin, here. He couldn't possibly hurt her, and you know that as well as I do. Just for once Vivian. God, don't you have a heart? Don't you have some pumping thing in your body, that tells you Martin's one of the most trustworthy people you have ever met."

"Danny!" Vivian exclaimed, shocked by his outburst, and saddened that he'd even think that she would think that Martin was really involved in this. "Of course I trust Martin, I'm just saying that that is how the other team sees him, for now at least, they will change their mind, it's what we constantly do. Remember, we always find our perpetrator."

"But we don't always find our MP alive." Danny stated, and Vivian's heart stopped for just a single beat. What if they would not find Sam, or not in time? Her mind could still register a time that Sam had not worked with her, but her heart couldn't anymore. The agent had taken a permanent spot in her heart, which when emptied, would never be able to get refilled again.

"We've got the take action, Viv, because while they're investigating Martin all over, they are losing time."

"What do you want me to do, Danny?" Vivian sighed.

"I want you to find out everything they found at the crime-scene, everything they know till now, and then, I want you to start doing your usual stuff."

"My usual stuff?" Vivian questioned, although she would never find this a good idea, she knew she owed it to both Martin and Sam.

"You know, your solving the case stuff, cause we're gonna need that."


	5. Addicteddrugged

_Chapter five: Addicted/drugged_

**Sunday, 6.30 pm:**

"All right, I'm only telling you this, because Olczyktold me you and your team, are really good at your jobs and I could really use some help tracking this guy down." Emily told Jack, while he looked up from the papers he had been reading, although you couldn't have exactly called it reading, he had not been interested enough to be reading. He was sitting down at the conference table, she had taken up his office and her team had took over the bullpen, not minding that the desks where they were working on where not theirs. "The blood we found at agent Spade's apartment, is not hers. The blood type matches, but it's not hers. It's of a male." Emily said.

"What does that mean?" Jack asked.

"It means, that another man was in that apartment." Emily explained, something that Jack had been smart enough to figure out, he was more wondering what that meant for Martin.

"It could be the attacker's blood." Jack suggested but she threw him a doubtful look.

"The attacker that kidnapped agent Spade?" She questioned and then shook her head. "No, the blood amount is … well it's a lot, whoever's blood it is, he would not have been fit enough to take on two FBI-agents, managing to knock one unconscious, or whatever Martin was, and kidnap the other." Emily explained her thoughts, knowing that for now at least, Jack would keep defending Martin. As she looked over towards Jack, she noticed he was thinking her words over. "Look, I don't know what happened there, those are just the facts. Now I need your team to track him down, maybe try matching the DNA with the data base. If you find _who_ it is, then start calling hospitals, or anything else, just find _where _he is. I don't know what this means, but we need to find him. "

"All right." Jack said, glad already that Emily really seemed to involve them in the case, even if it was just because Olczyk had ordered her to do that. "You still keeping Martin here?" Jack questioned, and Emily just gave him a short nod, without any explanation, and then put the papers she had been holding down in front of him.

*** "All right, so what you're trying to tell me, is that you just magically lost 36 hours of your memory?" Reno Smith asked Martin, who had been giving the company of Aaron Young, a very expensive and famous lawyer, one that his father had searched out for him.

"Yes." Martin replied, knowing full well how ridiculous that sounded, but it was the truth, the last thing he remembered before this morning, was the night of 36 hours prior. He wanted to find an explanation for that just as much as the agent in front of him, but he wanted to find Sam even more.

"Are you doing drugs?" Reno suddenly questioned.

"Don't answer that." Young stopped him from talking, but he was just down right offended. It was true, that he hadn't looked in a mirror anymore since this morning, and was also convinced that he would not be looking good, but wasn't there any agent on this team that might understand that his appearance had more to do with his girlfriends' disappearance then with any drugs?

"Are you an addict?" Reno questioned further, and Martin's lawyer put a hand on his arm to stop him from talking. "Tell me, agent Fitzgerald? Is this the first time you suffer from a black out? I heard it is quiet comm'n with drug addicts. …… Now I am going to ask you this for the last time, are you doing drugs?"

"No." Martin exclaimed, not really understanding why his lawyer did not want him to answer that, unless that he really thought for a second that Martin might be on drugs. Wow, what an amazing lawyer his father had searched out for him.

"Can I speak to my client, alone, please?" Young suddenly questioned, and after some hesitationg where Reno showed enough that he didn't enjoy this sudden gesture, he did stood up and left the room. Coming out of the room, he found both agents Taylor and Johnson standing there, and greeted them unfriendly before walking off.

"Just look at him, Viv." Danny said, as his gaze held Martin firmly and he couldn't remember a time he had seen him in any worser condition. His appearance reminded Danny of himself ten years ago, alcohol addicted, the days when his life had been a total mess. "This is not just worry, Viv. I think he's been drugged."

"What?" Vivian exclaimed, although that would explain at least some of the facts.

"Comm'n Viv, the black out, his head ache, blood shot eyes. He's still suffering from the consequences, he's not standing strong on his feet, and he hasn't got a clear mind. I think he was drugged."

"Danny." Viv said, trying to keep his anxiety about this down, for she had just realised something very important about that lead. "If Martin was really drugged, it could be that he did something to Sam, while not even realising it." She explained.

"No." Danny said shaking his head. "What about this other guy? Ric Carter, the one who lost the blood. I don't think he was alone, I think they were two guys, they drugged Martin, but he or Sam still managed to hurt one of them however it was not able to stop them and they kidnapped Sam, leaving an unconscious Martin behind." Danny explained his theory, but Vivian looked unsure. "Oh, comm'n Viv, it's a likable theory."

"Yeah? So those two, managed to get into the apartment without breaking in?"

"Sam or Martin opened the door for them, both of them are not paranoia enough to only open the door for people that they know…… or it could even be someone that they know." Danny thought further, he was always the first one to detect an entire story behind the evidence and, not always of course, it had happened more then ones that he had been right.

"Sam's bedroom was totally smashed." Vivian pointed out.

"Her whole apartment was smashed, that doesn't mean that the struggle or fight started there." Danny immediately threw back. "If, for one second, we think that Martin did something to Sam, then what was that other guy doing there? If Martin's a mastermind who had us all fooled then why would there have been another guy in the room?"

"I know, Danny, I know. I'm just saying, what if Martin was drugged then he could've done things, that the Martin we know, who would never harm Sam, would have never do."

It was not that Danny did not understand Vivian, or why she was thinking that, it was just that he didn't even want to think about that possibility. For him, Martin couldn't have possibly hurt Samantha, drugged or not, there just had to be another explanation, and this other guy, it just gave him more proof of that. Martin just didn't do anything to Sam, that was as far as his theory went.

"Vivian, Danny." Someone called out, they both recognised the voice as being Jack and they turned around. "Someone up for coming to the hospital with me?" He questioned.

"Why?" Danny asked.

"I found Ric Carter. He's in St Luke's hospital. He got admitted there, after he stumbled to urgency. He had no ID on him, but he matches our guy perfectly. Apparently, he's being treated for two stab wounds to the chest." Jack explained.

"I'll go." Viv said, and Jack didn't even wait for her as he nodded, and then walked past them. "Look Danny, why don't you go further into your drugged theory. Find out what you can. Also if you can, find a way to talk to Martin, I don't think that they were kind enough to mention him that the blood is not Sam's, I'm sure he'd like to hear that." Vivian said, and Danny nodded, after which she took off too, and Danny looked back towards Martin, who was merely staring into thin air, while his lawyer was talking to him. Danny just hoped, that they would be able to get something out of Ric, something that could finally really help them find Sam, or at least what had happened.


	6. Cracks

_All right, it's been a while, I suddenly had little inspiration but now I'm back on track ;)_

_Hope you all enjoy this and please, please, please, just review? Can you do that for me? It's just that if you don't get the idea that people like your story, you're not so motivated anymore to write further! So please!!! REVIEW_

_Chapter six: Cracks_

**Sunday, 10.00 pm:**

"I want to know where my son is." Jack heard Victor demand, even from far away, and when he turned the corner, he saw Victor getting himself angry against Emily. Well, this had been bound to happen, Jack had even been questioning what had been taking him so long.

"Sir, I realise that …"

"It's director Fitzgerald, or did you forget who you were talking to?" Victor asked, and Jack quickly caught up with them. He may not like Victor, and Victor may not like him, but this time he was burying good news for him. Or bad news for Emily. Even though Martin was still very much a suspect into the stabbing of Vic Carter, both his and Victor's statuses, had made it rather easy for Jack, to ensure that he was able to walk out of here, something that he was very proud off.

Or maybe not so. He was proud of getting Martin out of here, but about his other actions, he didn't really know if he should be proud of them. It wasn't that his trust in Martin had been fallen, but just to make sure, he had also arranged, that Reno Smith and Daisy Moore, would be taken shifts in following Martin, just to see what that would give them. He didn't actually see Martin as a suspect, or was he just lying about that to himself?

"Deputy Director Fitzgerald, Emily." Jack greeted, as he went to stand besides them, and they both looked up surprised. "I have good news. Martin's in the interrogation room just around the corner and considering we don't have enough evidence to tie him to Samantha's disappearance, we don't have enough to hold him here anymore." Jack said, addressing himself to Victor while refusing to look at Emily, who of course did not know anything about that yet.

"All right." Victor nodded and then left Jack and a stunned Emily standing there, while he walked off.

"I cannot believe you did that." Emily hissed to him, and then she started following Victor's lead.

"Wait, wait …" Jack told her, and although she was suspicious, she did stop. "There's something you need to know."

*** "What? You just lost your prime suspect, so now you just go on to accusing the next?" Danny threw at Willem Götenburg, who was seated in front of him, pad ready. He didn't know why he had suddenly been pushed inside an interrogation room, but luckily he had been just in time, to see Victor leading his son away out of another interrogation room. That had been him come up with, something that he liked to call, Danny's theory.

"Relax, agent Taylor, you're not a suspect in this case. Not yet anyway. I'd just like to ask you some questions about agent Spade." Willem was trying very much to stay the most calm he could, but this guy was really giving him a hard time. He couldn't believe there even existed agents who had such an attitude.

"Well shoot away." Danny knew he was pissing Willem off, finally having something that he could at least enjoy momentarily, because this was probably one of the darkest days in his life. Sam, his little sister, disappearing, and Martin, his best friend, being accused of kidnap if not murder, on one day, it was a lot to handle. "I'm waiting." Danny said, when it took Willem more then just a few seconds to start talking again.

"All right, do you know anyone who's got a key of Samantha's apartment, except herself?"

"Are you really kidding me? Or is it really only now that you decided it was time to ask that question. You have an agent sitting in front of you, who knows very well, that that is one of the first things you should discover, after seeing a crime-scene like the one on Sam's apartment." Danny pointed out cleverly, feeling rather confident with himself, and less about the guy who was sitting in front of him. "All right." He continued when Willem looked to be not responding to that. "Let me see, I have one, Vivian has one, Jack has one and of course Martin has one, I think that's it."

"You're telling me, that everyone of your team has a key to her apartment?" Willem asked, obviously shocked by this, he couldn't imagine him giving his key to one of his co-workers, they were friends, but that was it.

"Everyone on this team has my key too, and Vivian's. I think Jack doesn't have Martin's key, but can you blame him? I wouldn't want Jack standing next my bed in the middle of the night either." Danny said, trying to joke around, but clearly that was not working, as Willem was just staring at him with a not-amused, looking face, or maybe it was because he didn't understand the joke. "Oh, I probably forgot. You see we all think, have speculated it for years actually, that Jack has this huge crush for Martin. I mean look at him, who wouldn't? Those blue eyes! Thinking lines on his forehead! ……… All right I'll stop." Danny decided at the end, when Willem was still looking not amused.

"Okay, so maybe I lied, I have her key, and I guess, boyfriend Martin too, but that's it."

"And you wouldn't by any chance be able to tell me, who might have a grudge against her, and could have done something to her?" Willem questioned, hoping Danny would finally get a grip and just start answering the questions without joking around. Willem, didn't like where this case was heading to. Their only suspect, or Emily's only suspect, for some reason Willem could not believe Martin was really the one they should be looking for, had just been released, and they had absolutely no lead.

"With the job that we do it could …"

"All right, yeah, they gave me seven boxes with possible suspects, due to her job, I'm gonna need something more specific." Willem stated, and for the first time Danny sensed a feeling of compassion for this guy.

"Well, I'm sorry, I can't help you with that. But I could help you sorting those out, I probably know the cases and the people involved probably better then you." Danny offered and Willem nodded shortly.

"That would really help."

*** "How much do we really know about Martin?"

"Excuse me." Vivian said, looking up at Jack, surprised by this sudden question, and shocked by the meaning that must lay behind it, he couldn't seriously think like that, right?

"I'm just saying, he's been in this team for about two years and a half, right? And besides the fact that his father's Victor Fitzgerald, there's so little I know about him."

"And you only notice this now?" Vivian questioned, looking at him suspiciously. "It's the job, Jack, trust me. It took me about a year to get something out of Danny, and I still wait for the day, when I'll get the feeling that I know Samantha. But that does not mean that they're not my friends, or that I don't trust them. We're all islands in the ocean, Jack, and sometimes ships sail from one island to another, and on a few occasions a bridge can be built between them, but we're not connected, and I don't think we'll ever be."

"You're right."

"But I don't believe that any island of here, and surely not St. Martins, would ever make another island, sink or disappear into the ocean, and you shouldn't either."


	7. The witness

_Chapter seven: The witness_

**Monday, 8.00 am:**

"Does she seem trustworthy?" Danny questioned, as he saw Vivian heading his way, and knew she had just been in the interrogation room, with a certain Jackie Bondage, a woman who claimed she had heard a rather brutal discussion, if not fight occur in Martin's apartment, on Friday. It had almost never happened before, but today Danny just prayed that this woman was sucking a complete story out of her thumb, cause if she didn't. This was not exactly helping Martin's case.

"She seems ... normal, unfortunately she doesn't have any reason to be lying, and quiet frankly I don't think that she is." Vivian replied, looking back the way she came from, but or Emily was still in the interrogation room, or she didn't choose to go the same way as her.

"So, you think it's true?" Danny questioned, and Vivian sighed. For some reason, she knew this was true, and she knew well enough that Danny thought the same.

"I think that, there isn't any couple that doesn't fight every now and then."

"Yeah, but I think that I'm still calling Martin, just to make sure, that they won't surprise him too much. Because maybe that's true, but I still think for some bizarre reason that Emily was really pleased to hear this." Danny replied and Vivian nodded, knowing that he was right, it was weird having this other team work on the case, yet knowing, with every discovery that they made, what they would do with that.

She guessed that they finally learned how it really must be for all those families and friends of missing persons, frustrated and uncomfortable with the tactics that the team searching for them, were using, yet hoping that it would work. Only now, for them, it was even worse, because they were frustrated and uncomfortable about the tactics and they were sure that they wouldn't work.

"Jackie claims that she heard Martin yelling something in the sense of I'm not good enough, and that she choose someone else over him." Vivian told Danny. He hadn't asked about it, but she was pretty sure, that he'd rather hear this from her, then from someone of the conquering team.

"Sam would never cheat on Martin, she wouldn't cheat on anyone, it doesn't make any sense." Danny exclaimed.

"I know, I know, but she seems confident that she heard it, and like it or not, in the eyes of Emily, that kinda gives one hell of a motive."

"Convenient, her suspect gets released, and voila, she's got a witness, that can make her arrest him again. You got to wonder, Vivian." Danny explained his theory, and although Vivian knew he had a point, she still found their witness very trustworthy. Was it just her, or was Martin appearing to be a very good suspect, getting more and more convincing?

*** "Eric, do you mind telling me who this is?" Vivian asked, as she had returned back to the bullpen several minutes after her conversation with Danny, and had taken a seat at the conference table, considering her own desk had been taken in by Willem. Shortly as he'd probably been working there, he had even put a name tag on the desk, covering Vivian's name. That sure as hell did not make Vivian like the other team any more, especially not Reno Smith's gut to cover Sam's name.

She was holding a picture in her hand that she had found lying on the conference table, with no name on, yet Viv had this sudden feeling that she knew the guy from somewhere.

"That's Ric Carter, the man you and your team found." Eric answered, confused at her sudden question considering, you mostly knew the face of the man you had been searching. "He's still in the hospital in a critical condition, but I thought you visited him." He continued.

"Yeah, no, I didn't." Vivian said, remembering again why she had told Jack to go without her. She had called Sam's mother about six times during the hour after she had found out that Sam was missing, and then she had also called Sam's estranged sister about three times. All those time, both of them had not picked up, so she had left them several messages, not knowing if she could expect getting some reaction from them.

But she had, right after they had left the bureau, Emily had called her, demanding an explanation and wanting to know what they were doing on getting her sister back. She had hung with her for over half an hour on the phone, and she had been happy to realize that there was at least one part of Sam's family that still cared about her.

Looking at it from the other point, she had not yet heard anything back from Sam's mom.

When Daisy Moore, had asked her if there was anyone of Samantha's family that should be informed about this, Vivian had wisely told her, that as far as it went for Sam, the team was her family, and that was really partly true. With Danny as a brother, herself as the mom sometimes, she sometimes really felt like she had two families. For it gave both Danny and Samantha at least one.

"Is there something wrong?" Eric asked her and he snapped her out of her daydreaming.

"No ... or, yeah. I remember this guy."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, positive, and I think I remember him talking with Sam."

_Flashback._

"_Late for a hot date?" Vivian questioned Danny, as he seemed to be eager to getting home, after they had just closed a case. _

"_I think I can still make it in time." Danny smiled, as he furiously searched his stuff together, leaving his desk in a mess and almost running out of the office. Vivian saw how he waved at Samantha who was talking to a man, but got no reaction back. _

_Speaking of that, they seemed to be in a somewhat heated conversation, and just when Vivian decided that maybe she should check it out, the man said some things to Sam and then took off, leaving her, standing a bit dumbfounded._

"_Boyfriend?" Vivian asked, as she came towards her, and realized she had not heard much about any guy lately._

"_No, nothing like that." Sam replied, still a bit out of it._

"_Are you okay?"_

"_Yeah, I'm fine, it's nothing to worry about." Sam answered convincingly, and Vivian had not worried about it anymore, nor had she seen the guy ever since._

_End Flashback._

"And you're sure it's this guy."

"Yeah, positive." Vivian replied. That conversation had now been about two weeks ago, but she was good at faces, and was about 100 % sure that it was the same guy as on the photo she was holding.

"It's just that agent Taylor never mentioned something to me."

"He saw him just in a flash, it's only because I watched him for a few seconds that I remember him, otherwise I wouldn't recognize him either." Vivian replied, and although Eric didn't look all that convinced, she knew he believed her. She couldn't believe she hadn't found this out sooner. If Ric had been the attacker, then Danny might have been right, about his theory about the lock not being forced, because it was someone they knew, or at least Sam did.


End file.
